*Finger Guns* @lifes-pinata - Tumblr Blog

Time travel AU but instead of following Grace we focus on Rocky

POV: You are one of the top scientists on Erid. The sun is dying, and your last hope is to send your people into the silent void of space in the hope that they will find a solution. There are a million things you have to do, each more important than the last as you solemnly prepare for the most dangerous mission your world has ever attempted.

And then, in the middle of this, some random fucking engineer walks up to you like

#Rocky: yeah there's this invisible intangible energy in space that breaks down your cells and kills you. my source? trust me :)#Eridian scientist: *insert eggman meme* what are you FUCKING talking about #he notably does NOT attempt to explain relativity #he needs that extra fuel for Grace #what follows is 46 years of Rocky doing absolute Looney tunes bullshit to delay his own mission by All Means Necessary #because if his people figure it out too early then Grace is FUCKED #project hail mary #phm #Rocky PHM #Rocky project hail mary

One of the compelling things about Project Hail Mary is that you can't fix it.

"What if Stratt didn't force Grace to go?" Then the Earth dies.

"What if Yao and Ilyukhina had survived?" Then they all would have died in space, not enough food to get to Earth or Erid

If the Taomoeba hadn't escaped then Grace would have never seen his best friend again. Returning to a world he loves but no longer recognizes.

If the stars weren't dying then Grace never would have met his best friend at all. Living content but alone.

Project Hail Mary is a hopeful story. It is a story of friendship and what it means to be brave. It's a story about saving the world.

But you can't remove the tragedy of the story without making it unrecognizable. It's written into the bones.

#fix it fanfictions are one of my favorite kinds #so it's striking to me that you just. can't.#what happened to Grace was awful. a deep violation and a terrible betrayal .#it was also far and away the best choice that *could* have been made #both for the earth and for Grace himself #but it's always going to be bittersweet #phm #project hail mary

Grace: *Retroactively freaking out about Doing A Misogyny™*

Rocky: Me and the bestie!!! :)

#the idea of Rocky treating his pronouns like a friendship bracelet is so funny to me #Grace accidentally calls another Eridian he/him one (1) time and Rocky is like “WELCOME HOME CHEATER”#this is especially funny to me if Grace figures out he's agender but keeps using he/him because he's used to it #it's not like it has any meaning on Erid anyway #just two guys who are not actually men #project hail mary #phm #Rocky #Rocky PHM

lifes-pinata

They should invent a social event that doesn't feel like being hunted for sport

lifes-pinata

They should invent a human interaction that doesn't feel like being hunted for sport

#tag

They should invent a social event that doesn't feel like being hunted for sport

#tag

This is how it went right?

#princess tutu #I still can't believe this is canon #it kills me every time #though not as much as it killed Fakir's mom and dad

NatsuYuu fans are the funniest people on earth because they're all like "Natsume's Book of Friends is a great story about found family and healing".

So then you watch it, and someone gets eaten alive while begging for mercy. On screen even. There is blood.

Then you finish it and go "Wow, what a great story about found family and healing" and so the cycle continues.

#Natsume lives in a horror world and the Fujiwaras carved out a Slice of Life story for him with their BARE HANDS #everybody say thank you Touko and Shigeru #I feel like the Matoba clan's hardliner stance makes more sense with this in mind #can pretty much guarantee this has happened to humans at some point or another #Natsume's “not all yokai 🥺” stance probably sounds deranged in that light #RIP #natsume's book of friends #natsume yuujinchou #natsuyuu

You know what? We need to talk about Matoba and Natsume's first meeting AKA That Time Matoba Almost Murdered a Teenager

And like I don't even want to talk about how he tried killed Natsume specifically (though I do think Natsume should be holding a stronger grudge. Like what the fuck please value yourself 😭).

What I want to talk about is, in that moment, Matoba believed that he was alone in a building with a yokai. Likely a powerful one, to survive where the others had died. Likely an angry one, given that it had been attacked.

And in that moment Matoba Seiji, clan leader of the strongest exorcist clan in Japan, decided that with all his resources and spells and training, his best weapon was THESE HANDS.

#WHAT WAS THE GAME PLAN MATOBA #NATSUME IS A TWIGGY SIXTEEN YEAR OLD AND HE STILL SCRATCHED YOUR ARM #IF IT WAS REAL IT WOULD HAVE KICKED YOUR ASS #I just. you can't even exorcise something that way what was he trying to do 😭#if Natori ever found out- well.#if Natori ever found out FIRST he would try to murder Matoba himself #followed by months of the silent treatment/the most passive aggressive bitchiness the world has ever seen #but AFTER that when Natori actually thought about the implications of Matoba trying to fucking fist fight a yokai #he'd be angry AGAIN a how stupid a plan that is #I think he should tattle to Nanase she can wring Seiji out for it #natsume's book of friends #natsume yuujinchou #natsuyuu

Question: If Natori had been unable to break the spell in the Miharu house what do you think would have happened?

Natori asks Matoba for help

Matoba waits until it's clear that Natori can't break the spell and steps in

Matoba waits until Natori passes out and THEN steps in

Matoba just lets Natori fucking die idk

Voting ended onMar 24

#ran out of space for option two but make no mistake. he WOULD be an asshole the entire time #though honestly that's a given for any of these options #I personally feel like he would wait until Natori was out cold before doing anything #like passed out in a heap on the ground #I am torn on whether he would wait until Natori wakes up #or just leaves him to attend to the Miharu's “house guest”#probably the second one tbh #bros (your clan) before hoes (the one [1] thing in your life that is truly yours- the only person outside the clan that you trust) ✊😔#natsume's book of friends #natsume yuujinchou #natsuyuu #horrible exorcists

"Do you ship Tanuma/Natsume or not?"

A secret third thing. I think Tanuma has been holding a torch for Natsume since the first week they met, but is emotionally aware enough to recognize that Natsume is in no way shape or form ready to have a relationship. So instead he has devoted all of his energy into being a Really Good Friend ™

And you know what? He's doing a great job.

Bonus screenshots of my conversation with @annoyingttt because she Gets It

#Tanuma is truly the MVP that boy is working SO HARD to make himself someone Natsume can trust with his Yokai problems #here's hoping you get the guy in 2 to 4 years 👍#“What's Natsume's sexuality?” Emotionally unavailable #like that's changing now but I don't believe Natsume has thought about this a single time #he was too busy going through The Trauma #I genuinely don't know what I headcanon his sexuality to be beyond that #this is in contrast to my headcanon about Natori #who I also headcanon as only feeling attraction when he connects with someone #which as Mr “I have no friends” would tell you himself. Does not happen.#I think he's actually bisexual but functionally gay because the only person he's connected with is Matoba. to his great dismay.#Matoba is of course gay gay homosexual gay #natsume's book of friends #natsume yuujinchou #natsuyuu

There is something about Natsume's relationship with Reiko, or the lack of it.

Natsume cares about Reiko. He never met her. She's his age. She was dead before he was born. She is one of the most prominent characters in the series, second to only Natsume himself. Her choices drive the plot. We know next to nothing about her.

Nearly every yokai Natsume meets was deeply impacted by Reiko. She helped me, she hurt me, she held my name (my soul) in her hands and left it to rot. They are still waiting for her. In valleys and forests and bus stops.

But yet...

The Book of Friends is the result of one of Reiko's most painful experiences. The physical manifestation of her choice to keep people at arm's length, to push people away before they could do it to her.

And it saved Natsume.

Even after settling with the Fujiwaras, Natsume felt so adrift. At the beginning of the series, he may have actually agreed with Reiko's philosophy. "It's better to be alone than to risk getting hurt." His trauma left him disconnected from everybody. The Fujiwaras, his classmates, the yokai. Natsume had no past he could reconcile, no future he could imagine, and even his present he walked through like a dream; doing everything in his power to leave no trace.

The book forced him to make connections. More than that it forced him to reflect on his own relationships. As Natsume continues to return names, he understands Reiko and her lonliness more and more... And he realizes that she was wrong.

Through the Book of Friends, Reiko tethers Natsume to his past, grounds him in his present. Makes him reach out to others in ways she couldn't. Allows him to imagine a future so much brighter than he could have envisioned for himself, even just a few years earlier.

But while Natsume has grown, Reiko has remained stagnant. This girl who only exists in memories of decades past, this woman who died before he was born.

So of course Natsume is trying to find out what happened to her. Hoping that somehow, Reiko found something for herself too. That at least for a while, she was happy.

#it's crying about Reiko hours again #oh who am I kidding it's ALWAYS crying about Reiko hours #the way Natsume thinks about Reiko is so interesting to me #intellectually he knows that's his grandma but he doesn't SEE her that way #because she's 16 and she's alone and God she's just like him #but he can't help her because the girl he sees hasn't existed for decades #all he can do is hope she made it out all right #I'm hurting my own feelings again #Nyanko-sensei I KNOW you know something #tell me your secrets #natsume's book of friends #natsume yuujinchou

So do we think Reiko took the name of whatever is pretending to be Yorishima's arm or am I crazy?

#this is a genuine question #sometimes I can't tell if something is a hot take #or if it's so obvious no one is talking about it 😭#at least I haven't seen it #at first I thought he could be Natsume's grandfather since “he's much older than he looks”#but uhhhhhh I'm pretty sure he would need to know who she is for that #and there were none of the tells Midorikawa uses to imply a character is lying/withholding information #also according to the dragon we can assume that Natsume ALSO looks like his grandfather #which is shocking since he's Reiko's fucking clone #and no one mentioned Yorishima and Natsume bearing any sort of resemblance #but I digress #natsume's book of friends #natsume yuujinchou #natsuyuu

One of my favorite things about Natsume Yuujinchou's anime is watching the animators figure out how to animate what is essentially a bowling ball with nubbin legs.

Anyway I love Nyanko-sensei and his little waddle/rabbit run.

#I know the top two gifs are shit have mercy on me #I didn't want to learn a whole new skill to make a 5 second joke 😭#bottom gif NOT mine which is why it's so much better #credit to Joeschmo's Gears and Grounds who uploaded it to his (non Tumblr) blog in 2017 #thank you for your service sir 🫡#natsume's book of friends #Natsume Yuujinchou #natsuyuu

Natori's mask is an idealized version of a man. Not even an idealized version of himself, but something else entirely. As much a character as any other he plays. Natori doesn't believe any of the stuff he spouts- or if he does it's only skin deep. It's someone he would like to be. Someone nicer and friendlier and good with people. Someone desirable. It's a heavy weight that he willingly carries every day because anything is better than looking in the mirror and seeing himself

Matoba would tell you he doesn't have a mask, and he might even believe it. Mask? What mask? Maybe there was one, once. He was too young to put it on, so his parents did it for him until he could tie it on himself. "The Matoba Heir", "The Strongest Exorcist Family", "Hunters", "Hunted". These are heavy titles, many would drown under them. But now their weight keeps Matoba grounded. Who is he without them? Some stranger, probably. If there is a mask, he has grown to fit it perfectly. It is him. Not even he knows what's underneath.